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Effective managers do more than just supervise employees. They take responsibility for ensuring that an individual succeeds, and that the team, department, or business unit achieves expected results. Effective managers are like successful coaches who develop teams that win championships year after year. Like winning coaches, successful managers are both talented and skilled. Of course, managerial skills can be developed through training, mentoring, and experience. But if a manager lacks natural talent, his or her odds of success will diminish significantly. Below are some signs to identify incompetent managers.
1.Poor Communication Skills
The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished. Poor communicators forget that manager-employee communication is a two-way street. They talk , but they seldom listen. Often they don’t read subtle cues from other people’s gestures and tend to interrupt when others are speaking. Even when they don’t interrupt, they are often too busy formulating what they’ll say next to listen to what other people have to say. Instead of communicating clearly in writing, in person, and when using body language, poor communicators often work in a vacuum. They neglect opportunities to listen to peers, subordinates, customers, or vendors. They don’t try to understand other people’s positions and are quick to dismiss other points of view. Poor communicators demonstrate negative body language that discourages others from elaborating on their ideas, and rarely, if ever, give others their undivided attention. They often write inaccurately and don’t adequately prepare for public speaking, which means that they come across as disorganized, insincere, or unconfident.
2.Weak Leadership Capabilities
Weak leaders are sometimes afraid to bruise egos –including their own. Sometimes it’s tough to speak the plain but inconvenient truth when people really need to hear it –or to give direction to subordinates who don’t want to do what
needs to be done. No one likes to be criticized, but that’s what makes organizations effective. Great leaders can set an example; they walk the walk and talk the talk. Weak leaders are sometimes afraid to bruise egos –including their own. In addition to failing to provide clear direction, weak leaders:
· Don’t instill trust. They don’t keep their promises or respect confidences. When asked difficult questions, they tend not to respond forthrightly. Either they avoid taking responsibility or they’re quick to blame others for mistakes. They lack integrity –and their inconsistent actions and words prove it.
·Neglect to clarify each team member’s responsibilities for accomplishing objectives. They often fail to answer questions until expectations are perfectly clear.
·Don’t distribute responsibilities so that all bases are covered. They don’t bother to ensure that efforts aren’t duplicated. That may be because they are either ignorant of—or indifferent to—the workload of team members.
- Fail to translate tomorrow’s vision into today’s activities.
- Don’t effectively delegate responsibility. They may be insecure and reluctant to give up control for fear of being shown up. Or they want to keep others down as opposed to building them up. We’ve observed weak leaders who delegate without considering other people’s capabilities, interests or development needs. And we’ve seen those who micromanage, frequently “hovering” over their people, sapping creativity and motivation.
3.Inability or unwillingness to adapt to change
You cannot leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps. Change is hard. But effective managers know how to handle it. They can adjust to new circumstances. When things are ambiguous, they remain comfortable. In a crisis, they seek solutions. It’s often been said that the only constant is change. The trick is to keep a clear head, manage expectations and enable change. Strong managers are change agents. On the other hand, those who can’t adapt to change:
- Panic when faced with unexpected problems and sudden crises. They expect the worst.
- Lose perspective of the magnitude of the problem. They tend to agonize over minor adjustments to a big plan.
- Get stuck in reactive mode instead of proactively anticipating issues and developing contingency plans.
- Don’t think creatively to overcome obstacles. They view problems as annoyances instead of opportunities to learn and improve.
- Are risk-averse when it comes to trying new approaches to solving problems. They’re reluctant to involve others in the problem-solving process, even when they have more experience or can bring a fresh perspective to the table.
4.Poor relationship-building skills
Relationship building is an art, but not every manager is a natural relationship artist. Relationships -professional as well as personal–require some work. For example, good communication is a cornerstone of a healthy, productive relationship. So are trust and respect. Good relationship builders respect people’s differences; they’re tolerant. They praise more than they criticize. And when they do criticize they focus on the behavior, not the people. They’re always careful not to embarrass other people. And they say what needs to be said –even when it’s uncomfortable to say it. Aside from neglecting to maintain strong personal relationships, poor relationship builders:
- Don’t seem to appreciate the impactof words and actions on others. They don’t understand about keeping morale up and making others feel good about themselves and their work.
- Fail to respect the members of their team by being consistent and fair, and by showing appreciation for their experiences and viewpoints.
- Criticize people instead of people’s behaviors. They sometimes scold people in the presence of others, and rarely offer specific, constructive suggestions for desired improvement.
- Don’t regulate their emotions well, especially during times of stress.
- Rarely facilitate team success; they tend to ignore conflict between co-workers, or they rush to judgment before listening carefully to all viewpoints in a disagreement. Poor relationship builders don’t establish team objectives or encourage cooperation to reap the benefits of a unified effort. And they fail to capitalize on each individual’s strengths and experiences.
With the symptoms we’ve just identified in mind, would you say there is a degree of incompetent management within your organization? If so, here’s a strategy for handling it:
Determine if the individual has what it takes to be a manager.That involves a thorough assessment of his or her behaviors and interests. If yes, you should try to help them become aware of their weaknesses. Honest, straight-forward feedback from peers, superiors, and subordinates can help open people’s eyes by revealing how others see them. But don’t stop with feedback –use it to create a targeted development plan to address specific needs.
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